Eliška Jelínková

3.9 Walking Spaces: Browsing across ATLAS. Territory of Creation and Laboratory of Associative Dreaming (Paper)

Eliška Jelínková – National Gallery Prague | The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Czech Republic

Marie Fulková – Department of Art Education, Faculty of Education, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Martin Raudenský – Department of Art Education, Faculty of Education, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Kristýna Říhová – National Gallery Prague, Czech Republic

Kateřina Matějková – National Gallery Prague | The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract:

The Walking Spaces case study is one of the results of applied research in the Horizon EU Cultural Literacies’ Value in Europe (CLiViE) project, aimed at promoting social justice and inclusion through art education. We know from previous research that the design of a didactic structure contains relevant temporal and spatial protocols or scenarios. Thus, drawing from Foucault, we explore the dispositif, which we understand as a new composition of time and space in the service of educational aims. In this context, we have been given a unique opportunity: to explore the educational and social potential of the Studio of Creation and Laboratory of Dreaming (ATLAS), which is located in the National Gallery Prague in the Trade Fair Palace. ATLAS is a specific, low-threshold and open space that steps out of the traditional architecture of galleries and innovatively incorporates a café, playrooms, relaxation areas, a study room and a library. At the same time, it functions as an open platform for workshops, lectures, exercises or friendly meetings, thus going beyond the framework of the gallery as primarily an exhibition space. By its form, ATLAS reflects some of the current tendencies in art theory and art education, which include an emphasis on the openness and inclusiveness of institutions, the use of the social transformational, emancipatory and educational potential of culture or its therapeutic effects on specific communities. Methodologically, we combine pedagogical action research (PAR) approaches with innovations taken from the CLiViE project such as Theory of Change (ToC) and SROI (Social Return of Investment). Visual examples of the presentation are taken from the repository of Case Report 4 Walking Spaces, Department of Art Education Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague.